Slaughter House 5
Slaughterhouse Five Essay Herbert Hoover once said,” Older men declare war. But it is the youth that must fight and die.” This disapproving view of war parallels with Vonnegut’s view of war, evident in Slaughterhouse Five. Vonnegut uses a number of rhetorical devices in this novel in order to denounce war such as imagery, personification, and allusions.
Slaughterhouse Five is a novel with a plethora of rhetorical devices, one being imagery. Whereas Slaughterhouse Five is a rather somber novel; the imagery found in it helps the reader visualize and interpret the horrible, unexplainable events mentioned. Imagery is a mental image, conjured up by a memory or imagination. Vonnegut takes advantage of this method of writing in order to conjure up these images in the reader’s mind for a more grotesque and in-depth feeling, which aligns with Vonnegut’s disapproving view of war. When Vonnegut uses imagery he doesn’t single out one sense to focus one, therefore this creates a more in-depth image in one’s mind. Using what the reader already knows about the world around him or her Vonnegut says,” he meant to tear out his pounding heart”(54). The pounding of the heart allows the reader to envision the actual process that a heart undertakes as it pumps blood and imagine it. However, when one envisions a heart pounding it is not a simple throb, but it is a violent contraction. Vonnegut chooses this wording to try to convey his thought that war is not something to be taken lightly. Those involved are often frantic, stressed, and frightened. Likewise, Vonnegut utilizes imagery is when he says,” The hobo could now flow, could not plop”(81). Vonnegut’s word usage easily appeals to the human senses and is used appropriately in the novel. In this instance, Vonnegut wants the reader to get a feel of how rigid a dead body is. He doesn’t want the reader to only overlook a death resulting from war, but to become associated with the inevitable casualties of war.
Similarly, Vonnegut
Slaughterhouse Five is a novel with a plethora of rhetorical devices, one being imagery. Whereas Slaughterhouse Five is a rather somber novel; the imagery found in it helps the reader visualize and interpret the horrible, unexplainable events mentioned. Imagery is a mental image, conjured up by a memory or imagination. Vonnegut takes advantage of this method of writing in order to conjure up these images in the reader’s mind for a more grotesque and in-depth feeling, which aligns with Vonnegut’s disapproving view of war. When Vonnegut uses imagery he doesn’t single out one sense to focus one, therefore this creates a more in-depth image in one’s mind. Using what the reader already knows about the world around him or her Vonnegut says,” he meant to tear out his pounding heart”(54). The pounding of the heart allows the reader to envision the actual process that a heart undertakes as it pumps blood and imagine it. However, when one envisions a heart pounding it is not a simple throb, but it is a violent contraction. Vonnegut chooses this wording to try to convey his thought that war is not something to be taken lightly. Those involved are often frantic, stressed, and frightened. Likewise, Vonnegut utilizes imagery is when he says,” The hobo could now flow, could not plop”(81). Vonnegut’s word usage easily appeals to the human senses and is used appropriately in the novel. In this instance, Vonnegut wants the reader to get a feel of how rigid a dead body is. He doesn’t want the reader to only overlook a death resulting from war, but to become associated with the inevitable casualties of war.
Similarly, Vonnegut